Theostichus of Cyzicus

Holy Martyr Theostichus of Cyzicus is one of the nine martyrs of Cyzicus, remembered together: Theognides, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichus, Artemas, Magnus, Theodotus, Thaumasius and Philemon. About him in particular the page says nothing, but it tells the fate of all of them, at the end of the third century.

Cyzicus, a city of Asia Minor on the shore of the Dardanelles, had received the Gospel from the time of the holy Apostle Paul, but persecutions had made the Christians flee or hide their faith, so that the town was largely pagan. The nine martyrs, of differing ages, origins and stations, among them soldiers, villagers, townsmen and clerics, were united by the same faith and the wish to strengthen it. Arriving in Cyzicus, they boldly confessed Christ and fearlessly condemned paganism. Seized and brought before the governor, they were tortured for several days, imprisoned and brought out again, with promises of freedom if they would deny, but they stood firm. All nine were beheaded with the sword, between the years 284 and 292, and their bodies were buried near the city.

After the year 324, when Saint Constantine the Great ended the persecution in the East, the Christians took their incorrupt bodies from the earth and laid them in a church. Healings flowed from the relics, and many pagans turned to Christ. Under Julian the Apostate the pagans demanded the rebuilding of the temples, and Bishop Eleusius was imprisoned until the emperor's death. Saint Dimitry of Rostov composed the service of the nine martyrs and wrote of their passion, and a hierodeacon named Stephen founded near Kazan a monastery in their honour, with a part of the relics brought from Palestine, for deliverance from the fever of the year 1687. The martyrs are commemorated on 12 May.